Soup kitchen welfare service cut in Palma

PALMA City Council has cut €248,000 from the budget for public soup kitchens despite complaints from users of poor quality food and inadequate menus.

The local government has decided to cut €72,000 from the budget of the public soup kitchen service, and a further €176,000 from the home-delivery service’s budget.

The decision has been justified by saying that in 2014, a total of €991,586 was given to the business ‘Serunión S.A.’ to produce the food. Estimates on the amount of money spent by the business come in at €919,468 meaning that they are €72,000 under budget.

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The socialist PSOE opposition have vehemently criticised the move, saying that the families using the service – in part victims of domestic violence – have complained of the low quality service throughout the month of August. In their view, this extra €72,000 could have been spent to help raise the quality of the food.

A similar situation presents itself with the home-delivery service: the assigned funds of €1,173,835 being some €176,000 under budget.

Social Services representative, Ana Ferriol, has said that the budgets are completely separate from the quality of the food. In her opinion, the under spending is due to less people subscribing to the meals, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the food.

This explanation has not satisfied the socialists, who have said that the council have preferred to make an economic saving at the cost of food quality given to citizens of the es Jonquet area of Palma.